Other People's Perception About Silver Crowns on Children's Teeth

Honestly it make me think that the child eats poorly and that the parents cannot afford to take care of them. I usually feel sorry for the child. I know that may not be the case, but it is my immediate perception.

I agree with Della. I hate to admit it, but I feel the same way. I think, "oh, poor kid! That looks terrible." :(

I had a silver cap on my tooth since I was 4. I HATED it. They had to put it in because I had decay on the tooth and no permanent tooth underneath it. So, to retain the space until I could get it replaced, I was stuck with a silver tooth. They did not have the porcelain crowns they now have when I was that age. Save your kid the judgment and get the porcelain.

Is this an opinion of kids with cavities, or the silver crowns? I hate my silver fillings, and am just waiting until they fall out so that I can get them replace with the white ones. My insurance told me that they only cover the silver crowns when I needed them and that I would have to cover the difference if I wanted white. I asked the dentist and they were the same price!! yeah!

As far as kids with cavities. I guess I feel sorry for them. Yea, it looks awful but I know that I had the canyon teeth and my dentist said I would have had cavities no matter what, so I try not to judge. My kids will definitely get whatever that protectant is.

i think it looks bad, ill be honest, but im not being a snob, my two year old will need crowns soon because of a weakness in her enamel, due to the way she was drinking breast milk at night and letting it pool. I am going to pay extra for tooth colored fillings and crowns. Even though these teeth will come out anyway it makes me sad to think of silver on her little tiny teeth.

It is not ALWAYS neglect, that causes cativies, im sorry that this will get thought of when people see caps or fillings on a child. In my case it was taking too good a care of my daughter that did it, making sure she was nourished at night. I was vigilant about dental care too. Things just happen sometimes, and peoples opinions can be unfortunate.

Before having kids I immediately thought that the kid eats too much sugar and doesn't brush...so sad, I know!

Now, after having a son with 3 silver crowns on his molars, I think differently! My son has a small mouth and at his first dentist visit I was told we were gonna have problems with his teeth, they were just too squished and rubbing each other...they filed in between his front teeth, top and bottom, to give him some room...but at his 5 year check up his molars had rubbed so bad they recommended crowns and now he's has 3 on one side and spacers on the other side (he was lucky enough to have his 4 front teeth knocked out at baseball, yes the dentist said lucky, and that gave the remaining teeth room to move)...so there you go!

For the record, it is not lost on me that I was judgmental of others and now look where I am at...people probably think we don't take care of my son's teeth and that we don't feed him anything but junk...But it is not true, we did everything we could to prevent it...

i've always been told a filling is better..that's what i get for my daughter + a silver crown could give peers a reason to pick on your child when in school. Me personally i'll do what ever i can to keep my daughter from having to ever get silver anything, would perfer something that blends in with the teeth..she has 2 spacers right now because 2 teeth had to get pulled and the spacer's will help guide her adult teeth in and that's bad enough i think

I would encourage parents to think about the same thing for retainers. One of my kids first orthodontists insisted on the retainer that gets bonded to your teeth and the silver caps show when the mouth is open or smiling. How dumb!
All those years in braces to have your teeth look nice and then you have silver caps showing off the retainer along the back side of the teeth!!
We asked for 2 other opinions. Everyone else at this crappy office seemed to go along with what they said. Turns out, the retainer cost is included in the price and the cheapest fix for teeth, retainers, etc... is the SILVER CAP variety.
So there is more profit to the orthodontists to use those. There are other options out there. The smart parents need to ask ? 's always when it comes to their kids health. So many people do not ask questions.

Not necessarily neglect. Our genetics gives us deep grooves which are more prone to cavities. Had sealants done right away on adult teeth for my kids, but until they were invented when I was 12, I had a number of cavities despite my efforts guided by my mom. I recall my mom being very good about being taught by a dental hygienist, we went to a pediatric dentist already 40 years ago. I opt for white. I had my silver removed on all my lowers a few years ago, even though they don't hold as long as silver. Was so worth it to me and they even have different shades of white to match your teeth.

I feel very sad when I see a crown on a young child's tooth.
I imagine that the mom (or caretaker) has allowed the child
to have one or more of . . . lots of candy, sweet drinks,
other non-nutritive items.

In addition, that the child hasn't been taught how to brush and rinse.
And/or the parent hasn't brushed the child's teeth regularly and thoroughly starting from the earliest period of the child's life.

I project from the current status that the child
will likely have problems with his teeth in the future,
based on the early childhood experiences.

Why do you care what other people think? Do what's best for your kid!

Whatever the reasons are that your child needs silver crowns, it is what it is. I agree with Sara B. Who cares what other people think? It surprises me that some people here say that their first impression of a child with silver crowns is a negative one. Do parents realize that there are those that completely neglect taking their kids to the dentist at all? Do these people also realize that their first negative impression of kids that have silver crowns, reflects on how their children will react to their peers? It doesn’t surprise me that kids will make fun of other kids because that is how their parents react. If I said in front of my child “Oh that poor kid must be neglected! How awful those look!” Well guess how they will act with children who have them? I teach my kids compassion.

My kids do not have any cavities and my oldest is 13. However, when I see a child with silver crowns I think “I’m happy to see that at least Mom & Dad took them to the dentist and had the wherewithal to have them taken care regardless of cost or vanity.”

Take care of your child, and their teeth. As long as you are doing that then it’s all good!! =-)

Okay after reading through the replies, I just have to share my side. I can't believe how many moms on here think bad about kids or the parents of the kids with crowns. Wow, that blows me away , how sad... I have 3 kids 16,13 and 8, and all eat about equally healthy (although my 16 year old drinks way more soda pop than the rest). My 16 year old hasn't had a cavity in awhile now, my 13 year old just had 3 little cavities filled, and my poor 8 year old has 4-5 crowns now. They all brush their teeth twice daily and none floss on a regular basis although I try... We got a second opinion after the first crown, he initially went to a family dentist who filled 1 cavity and then recommended he go to a pediatric dentist for the rest as he was too upset for the rest and they didn't want to traumatize him. It was recommended to have the crowns versus fillings, as they will last longer and almost the same cost once the filling falls out and has to be replaced. These are on teeth that wouldn't fall out for 6-8 years when we first started this process. The cost is crazy, our out of pocket expensesper crown is about $300 and we have insurance, the cost of the gas to keep him relaxed is crazy but worth it to us. I don't recall anyone, adult or child making fun or commenting on his silver crowns. Anyone who does should be ashamed for making a judgement. Do what the dentist recommends although can't hurt to seek a second opinion, I felt better knowing that both dentists said the same thing and explained why.

First of all it's neglect on the parents part to have a 3 or 4 year old with cavities, I was 30 before i had my first cavity. Children can are sometimes are cruel with silver caps the child will get made fun of. J.

Wow, I had no idea people were looking at my son and thinking I'm a loser! My 8 year old has several silver crowns, and tooth colored fillings in the front where they are readily visible. He brushes well, 2 times a day (yes, I supervise), we try to floss but his teeth are so close together it's almost impossible - and all of his cavities have been between his teeth. 2 dentists have told me that really there is nothing we could have done to prevent them due to their location. He eats very few sweets (doesn't like them), rarely gets soda (1-2 times a month), and doesn't eat fruit snacks or fruit juice.
His younger sister hates to brush, I doubt she brushes more than once a day - and her teeth are perfect, no cavities ever. She eats candy every chance she gets - usually at friends houses because I don't have it here - and is a total dessert hound.

DD won the genetic lottery, DS lost - it has absolutely NOTHING to do with my parenting skills.

I knew someone whos son had, literally, every tooth silver crowned/capped. I asked him why? His response was that they were on state/low income assistance and that is all they would cover. His sons baby teeth were in such bad shape (some genetic stuff) that they had to be crowned or he wouldn't have any teeth to eat with.

Wow, shocked me. I would have never guessed!
I inherited my dads teeth. Wish I had Mom's. Our dentist when we were little said that the 'canyons' in our molars were so narrow that toothbrush bristles were too wide to reach to the bottom of them. Ended up with fillings in most of mine by the time I was in High school.

It's extremely sad to think people honestly judge a child's parents and up bringing on a glance of a child's mouth.

How dare anyone make such a quick assumption. There are many reasons kids have to have silver caps. Most dentist do use them because that's what insurance covers and baby teeth fall out.

Having silver caps does not equal a lack of parenting skills. Some kids are just born with teeth issues. My son has them, there was nothing I could have done to prevent it. He has week spots in his teeth which are more prove to cavities, no matter what we did.
Genetics plays a huge role in this matter.

I don't see any neglect about it ! My son at age 5 (now 6) had to have one. The cavity was too large to fill and he needs that tooth as its a molar and won't come out for another 5 or 6 years. We did what we had to do. The dentist said it looks like a birth defect in the enamal on those teeth as the exact same tooth on the other side has a small pit in it. They were able to "brush" that one off but this one had gotten too large. My son thinks its cool to have a silver tooth and showed it off to everyone he could the first week he had it. People who say this is neglectful are wrong ! As far as the silver goes - alot of dentists only do silver on young kids as it is alot easier to get them on those small teeth. If it had been a permanent tooth for my son, I would have done porcelein.

My daughter has several silver teeth. I was concerned about others thoughts too, but she is fine with her shiny teeth. I used to think kids who had those were not cared for. Now that my child has them I know better. I brush my daughter's teeth and floss them. She just has bad teeth. Don't worry so much what others think. Their thoughts don't matter anyway.

If he needs a crown or cavity I would be getting white for my son..

Silver is just sad. Younger pediatric dentist only use white now days so that kids don't have to be ridiculed and made fun of. Find a pediatric dentist that only uses white.

K fell a broke a tooth and the regular dentist would not even touch her. They gave me list of pediatric dentists and I found a wonderful one in OKC. I won't take the kids anywhere but to him until he tells me they are just to darn old. He put K under general anesthesia in the hospital and she came out about 3/4 of an hour later with a new tooth and a few fillings, all white, all perfectly matching her natural color, etc....it was a wonderful experience. She was ready to go eat when she woke up.

Oh
i cringed while reading the poster's thoughts that 'neglect' by parents causes cavities. in most cases, kids deal with cavities because of poor water quality or genetics.
So sad that you would make such a statement.
M H you asked about silver filing. our dentist told us that all kids get silver filings for their cavities, he said that is what insurance covers. I don't have a problem with the 'color' of that filing. My issue was if the filing breaks, the child will most likely swallow that piece and that is mercury in their body. So i asked for white filing. The dentist was surprised and was trying to talk me out of it. It came to about 200 dollars out of my pocket for a white filing for my daughter but i still did it. I didn't want to risk her swallowing the silver filing. and i will continue getting white filings for her if/when she gets more cavities, even if it is baby teeth.